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by mpeg 2855 days ago
It's interesting that you pat yourself on the back about it, I think the whole Triplebyte interview process is poorly thought out, including your email comms.

I did your online code quiz and got sent an email about doing a 2-hour technical interview, without really knowing much about what the job I was supposed to be applying for was.

On the interview, since I didn't really want to waste 2-hours on something I didn't want to do, I asked the guy a few questions about the company only to learn he's actually a freelancer interviewer, has little direct relationship with triplebyte and doesn't really know anything about me.

I carried on for a 2-hour quick-fire interview with a guy that was obviously trying to fill in a questionnaire rather than actually gauge my ability, questions designed by people who likely have no real-world experience in the scenarios they describe ("how would you architect the amazon.com frontpage?" is not a 2-minute answer)

About 15 minutes in, I was sure that even if I had wanted the job in the first place I wouldn't have taken it; and I had forgotten about it when I got an incredibly patronising email explaining how, if I do some online code puzzles and study hard, I too can get a job. Gee, thanks.

Granted: a bored, funemployed, grumpy dev is probably not your target audience, and I'm sure this interview style works to filter out people fresh off college, but the email was definitely the most ridiculous part.

1 comments

Yeah, another disadvantage of feedback is that some people really resent suggestions on how to improve - they can come across as condescending. I definitely would rather get feedback to someone who wants it even if this annoys someone who didn't, but I think lots of companies are making the opposite tradeoff - and that's part of why feedback is so rare in the industry.
I don't think the suggestions are bad per se. The reason they come across as condescending is because they're obviously very generic and they're sent to people who, in the current market, can be picky about who they want to work with.

Ultimately your whole business model is competing with tech recruiters, and my recruiters will call me to give me feedback from a role application, you have reduced that human touch aspect to an email with a few links to hackerrank.